A hard disk drive consumes power as part of its normal operation and much of this power is dissipated as heat. Like many electronic and mechanical devices, higher operating temperatures tend to compromise device reliability. A cooler hard disk drive tends to be more reliable. Several techniques have been developed to minimize the operating temperature of a hard disk drive.
A hard disk drive may be cooled by forced convection, where the air flow is provided by the host system. Some hard disk drives incorporate cooling fins as part of a casting used to make the disk base. This is sometimes done in hard disk drives when there is sufficient space, for instance, in a three and a half inch form factor with eighty five millimeter (mm) or sixty five mm disks.
Some hard disk drive configurations include a fan in the hard disk drive housing to provide flow for forced convection. Some external hard disk drive cases incorporate metal heat sinks that contact the hard disk drive housing and cool the hard disk drive through heat conduction.
Regardless whether convection or conduction is used, the heat generated in the prior art hard disk drive raises the temperature relative to the environment around the hard disk drive. The greater the heat generated, the greater the temperature differential needed for it to dissipate.
Today's hard disk drives gain a competitive advantage in certain markets by the effective use of power and effective methods for dissipating waste heat. By way of example, a home entertainment system may have an environment around the hard disk drive with a temperature exceeding sixty degrees Centigrade (° C.). Worse yet, such systems typically have no room for a cooling fan. What is needed are hard disk drives and their components minimizing the temperature difference between the hard disk drive internals and the environment, while doing so without requiring a fan.